NAN-H-68
Artisans
Abuja, March 22, 2017 (NAN) Mr Anthony Okwa, Managing Director, Construction Skills, Training and Empowerment Programme (C-STEmp), said on Wednesday that the programme has trained 3,000 artisans across the country since its inauguration.
The Federal Government inaugurated C-STEmp in 2016 to train Nigerian artisans for skilled manpower development in the construction industry.
C-STEmp is an initiative of J.HAUSEN Nigeria, a construction management consultancy firm that is aimed at training qualified manpower and artisans in the construction industry.
Okwa told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) assisted C-STEmp in developing training materials being used for the training.
He said that the programme was assisting the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON) and Nigeria Institute of Builders (NIOB) to develop their occupational standard.
According to him, it is working closely with NBTE to develop multimedia training materials in local languages namely: Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba in order to reach the artisans at their levels.
“We are working with technical partners to make the training modules available in mobile form.
“If the artisans have the training modules in their local languages and Tablets, they can access the training wherever they are doing their apprenticeship,” he said.
The expert noted that the target audience for the programme was the unemployed youths who were interested in working in the housing and building sector.
He explained that the programme had a special programme to encourage female artisans to go into the building sector.
“We have them as plumbers, painters, electricians, carpenters, and tillers among others.
“Within three months duration of training, they are qualified, at the end certificate of competence, issued by NIOB will be given to the artisans,” he said.
Speaking on its challenges, he said that communication was one of the major things confronting the training.
“The target initially was the people, who had gone through basic education, but we now have graduates and illiterates being trained under the same class room, this is a challenge.
“We also need more supports from the government and other organisation because the target groups are not people who can afford the cost of technical training.
“Technical training is like engineering or medical training, it requires materials and equipment. It’s quite expensive and most people cannot afford it,” he explained.
Okwa said the programme was receiving support from the National Directorate of Employment (NDE).
The C-STEmp boss said the programme supposed to admit new intakes for the programme through vocational aptitude test but some of the artisans could not comprehend the test. (NAN)
UU/ELLA/MO/AFA
Edited by Morayo Omolade/Felix Ajide